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Last month’s FESPA Global Print Expo in Barcelona revealed plenty of new products and new trends in the wide format market.

Every year the Global Print Expo highlights new items of kit as vendors strive to keep up with the latest trends, with the pace of these changes underlining just how vibrant the wide format market sector continues to be. And this year’s show in Barcelona offered plenty of new options for our consideration.

Several vendors talked about the growing use of artificial intelligence to inform decision-making and increase automation. Perhaps the most eye-catching of these was Durst’s new AI-based production management system called Kyveris.

Durst invited feedback at FESPA for its Kyveris Sandbox © Nessan Cleary

Christoph Gamper, CEO and part-owner of Durst Group, explained the thinking behind this: “I think our industry will go lights-out and autonomous and we need to think about this so that’s what we are showing here.” Kyveris integrates robotic automation, which is becoming increasingly common on factory floors. It also includes an OSI Open Software Initiative, with open APIs and documented interfaces to allow for integration with MIS, workflow and finishing systems.

EFI demonstrated its cloud-based Insight platform, which is an analytics tool that measures production data against performance metrics and can predict failures. It was first introduced for the single pass Nozomi platform but is now being rolled out across EFI’s portfolio. EFI also showed another cloud-based tool, InSpec, which records the images being printed and analyses them using AI for quality control and verification.

A number of vendors chose to highlight mid-volume production with several new 3.2m-wide hybrids making their debut appearances. This included Canon’s Colorado XL, which is a 3.4m-wide hybrid that’s available in two variants for either flexible substrates or complete with tables for rigid media. Users can change from one to the other as needed. It uses Canon’s unique UVgel technology from its existing 1.6m-wide roll-fed M-series printers so the XL represents a considerable step-change for Canon. It can handle a range of different applications, from fabrics to wall and floor graphics as well as truck side panels and vehicle wraps. It can produce around 106 sqm/hr, or 70 sqm/hr in Quality mode.

HP brought along the Latex FS70W, which replaces the older 3X00-series machines. A such, it’s a mid-volume 3.2m-wide hybrid that can print up to 162 sqm/hr in 2-pass mode though HP is quoting the 3-pass…

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